Euthanasia
a term employed to describe painless methods of inducing death. The subject is chiefly of interest in respect to the close of illnesses in which the death agony is likely to be prolonged, and methods of easing pain in such cases by narcotics and similar means are regarded as admissible. The actual hastening of death in an apparently incurable illness is, however, a graver matter, and the weight of ethics, law and religion is strongly against such action, which is regarded as tantamount to actual slaying. The adage that while there is life there is hope expresses the fundamental principle opposed to euthanasia, and the cases are numerous of ultimate recovery on the part of a patient who has been doomed by expert opinion.